Sociologist Veronika Burcar Alm has participated in a book about children and young people in exposed life situations with perspectives from research and practice.
In her chapter, Veronika Burcar Alm problematizes the notion that sibling violence and sibling rivalry are a normal feature of children's everyday lives.
The book is in Swedish: Barn & unga i utsatta livssituationer – perspektiv från forskning och praktik and will be released this autumn. Veronika Burcar Alm's chapter is about "A forgotten vulnerability- sibling violence".
All fighting between siblings is not innocent fuss. Sometimes we find the same type of violence that occurs in other close relationships, but something that makes the sibling relationship special is that it often is one of the longest relationships we will have.
If all violent activities in a sibling relationship would be placed within the framework of a normalizing violence discourse, it would be difficult to pay attention to the children who are exposed to what in other close relationships would be termed abuse, harassment or gross violation.
Veronika Burcar Alm's chapter "Sibling violence - a forgotten vulnerability" is based on international research on sibling violence and on interviews with six adult women who, during childhood, and for a long time, have been exposed to violence by a sibling. The material was collected in 2018 within a small research project funded by the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority.
Ongoing study:
In an ongoing research project “Sibling violence and sibling quarrels. A study on the meaning and consequences of boundary problems”, Veronika Burcar Alm, together with Anna Rypi at the Lund University School of Social Work, continues to interview people who have been subjected to violence in a sibling relationship.
In this project interviews are also conducted with family therapists, psychotherapists, school curators and parents.
The new project "Sibling violence and sibling quarrels" is also funded by the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority.
The book "Children & young people in vulnerable situations" (Barn & unga i utsatta livssituationer), which includes Veronika Burcar Alm's chapter, will be released this autumn. Editors: Linnéa Bruno och Zulmir Bečević. Liber publishers.
